Information of interest to people using California area codes.

rfranzq

Information about a tax/fee that might apply to you.

The cellular companies in California conspired with their trade association
to increase rates in California by sticking a surcharge on customers that had
previously been paid by the cellular companies.

It is called the MTS-----Mobile Telephone Surcharge.
It came into effect 1/1/2016.

More information on the topic than anyone will want to know:

http://www.mtsnotice.com/

https://www.airvoicewireless.com/MTS/

http://www.att.com/esupport/article....less/KM1062860

https://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/mts.htm

https://www.boe.ca.gov/industry/prep...html#mts_rates

It will be interesting to see if and how small non-California MVNOs will handle or notice this.
Also, international SIM cards with California phone numbers?

To be seen.

dg7feq · 21-01-2016, 11:58

I would say nothing changes because i am not buying any services in california.

"California law requires all sellers of prepaid wireless service to collect certain taxes, fees and mandatory surcharges from prepaid consumers at the time of purchase"

snidely · 23-01-2016, 20:32

This is a non-issue. We in California have always had these fees and taxes added to our bill. What this does is get the low end users who are on prepaid plans to also pay these charges. While prepaid services were always offered overseas, the mainline carriers in the US did not introduce prepaid until years after cellular came into existence.

rfranzq · 24-01-2016, 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by snidely

This is a non-issue. We in California have always had these fees and taxes added to our bill. What this does is get the low end users who are on prepaid plans to also pay these charges. While prepaid services were always offered overseas, the mainline carriers in the US did not introduce prepaid until years after cellular came into existence.

Actually, the cell companies did pay the taxes before but now they have shifted the costs to the buyer and they thus are making more money by keeping the amount they are no longer paying.

rfranzq · **Update -** 02-09-2016, 23:03

Using Callingmart avoids these charges.

11-09-2016, 15:06

Interesting. o.O

	(#1)
rfranzq (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 774 Join Date: 21 Apr 2009 Country:	Information of interest to people using California area codes. - 20-01-2016, 21:20 Information about a tax/fee that might apply to you. The cellular companies in California conspired with their trade association to increase rates in California by sticking a surcharge on customers that had previously been paid by the cellular companies. It is called the MTS-----Mobile Telephone Surcharge. It came into effect 1/1/2016. More information on the topic than anyone will want to know: http://www.mtsnotice.com/ https://www.airvoicewireless.com/MTS/ http://www.att.com/esupport/article....less/KM1062860 https://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/mts.htm https://www.boe.ca.gov/industry/prep...html#mts_rates It will be interesting to see if and how small non-California MVNOs will handle or notice this. Also, international SIM cards with California phone numbers? To be seen.

	(#2)
dg7feq (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,164 Join Date: 04 Feb 2006 Location: Germany Country:	21-01-2016, 11:58 I would say nothing changes because i am not buying any services in california. "California law requires all sellers of prepaid wireless service to collect certain taxes, fees and mandatory surcharges from prepaid consumers at the time of purchase" Germany: o2 blue all-in L, simquadrat Thailand: truemove (phone+sms+wifi) International: xxSim+372, toggle +44/+49/+41/+31 Phones: Huawei Mate7, Huawei P9

	(#3)
snidely (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 451 Join Date: 09 May 2005 Location: Berkeley, California and Miami Country:	23-01-2016, 20:32 This is a non-issue. We in California have always had these fees and taxes added to our bill. What this does is get the low end users who are on prepaid plans to also pay these charges. While prepaid services were always offered overseas, the mainline carriers in the US did not introduce prepaid until years after cellular came into existence. Make use of T-M's UMA/wifi free calling from any place in the world with access to wifi. I use an LG G6, wife an S7) A/o Oct 20, 2013 no need for intl prepaid as T-Mobile U.S. includes voice roaming at 20¢/min (in and out)., unlimited text (in and out), and unlimited data in 140+ countries. My Plan -[6 lines] U.S. T-Mobile unlimited minutes (incoming and outgoing), unlimited text, fast data on each line. that $145/mo. total! . (In U.S. no surcharge for calling a cell.) If a line exceeds 2G of data in a month, pay $10 more for that line. [That only happens a couple times/year.

	(#5)
rfranzq (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 774 Join Date: 21 Apr 2009 Country:	Update - 02-09-2016, 23:03 Using Callingmart avoids these charges.

	(#6)
jenn Guest Posts: n/a	11-09-2016, 15:06 Interesting. o.O